John Templeton - less than $1 dollar stock portfolio and world war 2

“To buy when others are despondently selling and to sell when others are euphorically buying takes the greatest courage, but provides the greatest profit” – John Templeton

John Templeton was once named by Money magazine as “arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century.” A fund manager, he profited from the Great Depression by buying 100 shares of each NYSE company that was selling for less than $1 at the time. He later made many times his money back when industry in the US picked up as a result of World War 2.

According to Templeton, if you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, he said, while the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell. 

Keywords:
World war II, borrowed money, portfolio less than $1 dollars, 4 times more return